ABU DHABI // More of the UAE workforce – 59 per cent – have full-time jobs than in any country in the world, a new survey suggests.
Gallup, the American management consultancy company, put employment-related questions to 1,000 UAE residents as part of its “payroll to population” study based on more than 136,000 interviews in 136 countries.
Gallup did not count those who are self-employed, working part time or unemployed, or not obliged to work.
Of those surveyed, about 20 per cent of the sample were nationals, about 40 per cent were Arab expatriates and about 40 per cent were non-Arab expatriates.
Although the 59 per cent figure is not in itself surprising, since an estimated 85 per cent of the population are expatriates and by definition employed, experts said it illustrated how attractive the UAE was as a place to live and work.
“Firstly, the UAE offers a safe and secure lifestyle with a good working environment,” said Haji Masthan, a human resources manager.
He said tax-free salaries, enabling residents to save money, was a major factor in the number of people coming to the UAE to find work, as opposed to European and Asian countries wih high rates of tax.
Maj Gen Nasser Al Menhali, assistant undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior, said: “This is a main feature of the UAE, we welcome people from all nationalities and give them the best environment to work here.
“That’s the reason large numbers of people come to work here and contribute in the development of the country.
“The leadership of the country have laid emphasis on employing all nationals and giving full rights to foreigners who work here.”
Mr Al Menhali said that people from around 200 countries work in the UAE and they have full freedom and enjoy best services, health, safety and security.
In Gallup’s “payroll to population” study, or P2P, The UAE and Bahrain bucked the trend for the region.
“In the Middle East and North Africa, a combination of low workforce participation and high unemployment continues to drive the low P2P rate,” Gallup said.
“While some small Middle East countries such as Bahrain or the UAE have P2P rates higher than 50 per cent, the much larger countries of Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, and Yemen, at only 12 per cent, have lower P2P, bringing the region’s total score down to 19 per cent.”
According to the poll, 1.3 billion people in the world, about one in four adults, had full–time employment through a single employer in 2013, with full–time employment as low as 5 per cent in some countries.
Iceland was rated second with 54 per cent of its population in full-time work, and Bahrain was third with 53 per cent.
The US was in 10th position with 43 per cent.
The study showed that countries such as Sweden, Bahrain and Russia rank near the top because each has high numbers of people working directly for the government or government-owned entities.
Countries with the lowest P2P scores tend to have large informal economies with high self-employment.
In Nepal, which has only a 9 per cent P2P rate and $690 (Dh2,534) per capita gross domestic product, 38 per cent of the adult population was reported as being self-employed.
Similarly, Burkina Faso has a 5 per cent P2P rate and $652 (Dh2,394) per capita GDP, and 28 per cent of adults are self-employed.
This pattern is the same in many sub-Saharan countries, helping to make the region’s 11 per cent P2P rate the lowest of any region in the world.
The results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults in each country, aged 15 and older, conducted in 2012 and 2013.
anwar@thenational.ae
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes.
Where to stay
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
%3Cp%3EFirst%20ODI%20-%20Sunday%2C%20June%204%20%0D%3Cbr%3ESecond%20ODI%20-%20Tuesday%2C%20June%206%20%0D%3Cbr%3EThird%20ODI%20-%20Friday%2C%20June%209%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMatches%20at%20Sharjah%20Cricket%20Stadium.%20All%20games%20start%20at%204.30pm%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Adithya%20Shetty%2C%20Ali%20Naseer%2C%20Ansh%20Tandon%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Basil%20Hameed%2C%20Ethan%20D%E2%80%99Souza%2C%20Fahad%20Nawaz%2C%20Jonathan%20Figy%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Lovepreet%20Singh%2C%20Matiullah%2C%20Mohammed%20Faraazuddin%2C%20Muhammad%20Jawadullah%2C%20Rameez%20Shahzad%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Sanchit%20Sharma%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.